2013 Tuna adventures

HArd to tell the draggers from tuna trollers (unless they are up on the ledge) and many tuna fishers do not run or turn off their AIS.
 
I have AIS receiver on my vhf and most of the commercial tuna boats I have seen while fishing myself ( no more than 1-2 miles away) do not have an AIS signal being transmitted.
I was hoping to use the AIS as poor man's radar and be able to dial in on the commercial fleet - no such luck! But to be fair... I won't tell them where I find tuna either! haha
 
I have AIS receiver on my vhf and most of the commercial tuna boats I have seen while fishing myself ( no more than 1-2 miles away) do not have an AIS signal being transmitted.
I was hoping to use the AIS as poor man's radar and be able to dial in on the commercial fleet - no such luck! But to be fair... I won't tell them where I find tuna either! haha
Well, Tuna Don was incredibly generous with his coordinates and I've been generous with mine in the past also. I report good news or bad news (and often it's "no fish here"). It's a big ocean and there's a lot of fish in it (especially albacore). When everyone is trolling, I'm not convinced it matters to have more boats in the area, especially if each is tossing out the occasional bit of dead bait chum. Every boat in the area that Tuna Don was fishing did well even when it went from one boat to about 7-8 fishing the same 1-2 sq. miles. Now if someone is fishing live bait and chumming like crazy, that's a different story as the trollers can send a small school down. So for the foreseeable future, I plan to give my numbers out on the radio for all to hear. It cost so much in fuel to get there, I want everyone to have a good time.
 
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/
You guys think the 10 pack of fishing vessels about 40 miles off tofino are targeting? Do any of you guys use this website to track commercial fishing vessels which could help in locating the fish?

I've used marine traffic for years and have yet to see a Tuna boat, or Salmon troller on there. Thats the Hake draggers you are looking at. Just click on the boat for a discription.
 
I have been looking at ais for the last 3 months and not once did I see a tuna troller with it on and twice now I have ended up 60 miles off Tofino and 25 boats were around us and I am pretty sure they are not dragging in 7000 ft of water. I was told they don't have to have ais on while fishing, could be wrong thou

had a awesome time on sat with all other buddy boats,, fishing was scratchy and couldn't find them till noon managed 28 and all were in mid 20s.. new guys Rick and Steven had blast and did a good job.
I am sure Why Knot will post but it was fun fishing around u guys and thanks for the chuming for us , ha ha
 
IMO Tuna boats would not want to let the competition know where they are! Especially the top guys... Its competitive.. They would only turn on their AIS if it was obvious that a large fleet was working the same area and maybe there was poor visibility as it would act as an aid to radar.
 
Seadna - I was joking... at the COMMERCIAL boats turning off their AIS and being low profile - I'll share anything with anyone
 
28 is scratchy J???? You are getting spoiled.





I have been looking at ais for the last 3 months and not once did I see a tuna troller with it on and twice now I have ended up 60 miles off Tofino and 25 boats were around us and I am pretty sure they are not dragging in 7000 ft of water. I was told they don't have to have ais on while fishing, could be wrong thou

had a awesome time on sat with all other buddy boats,, fishing was scratchy and couldn't find them till noon managed 28 and all were in mid 20s.. new guys Rick and Steven had blast and did a good job.
I am sure Why Knot will post but it was fun fishing around u guys and thanks for the chuming for us , ha ha
 
way to keep it positive guys.. yes Blair.. and your not even a tuna fisherman yet... u will be soon..
 
Sounds like YODA from Star Wars - Luke " I'm not afraid", Yoda leaning forward and suddenly very menacing " YOU WILL BE!"
Bwahahahaaaa
 
I went out of Westport last weekend with a couple of friends from Critter Cove, Matt and Mike from the Nymp a 24' North River. We headed 45 miles offshore to the Gray's Canyon area. The water was great as we travelled at 25 mph and got there in 2 hours. We spent a couple of hours getting dialed in and hooked a few trolling and then had a couple good bait stops where we had a couple triple headers on at a time. That live bait thing is the best as you have a 1/2 oz sinker and a small #6 hook thru the chovey and away it goes swimming from the boat. Then the line speeds up and blasts off and you know it's tuna on. I cant believe they stay on that small of a hook.

Around mid day along came the bird in the picture and he road with us for an hour or so.

We ended up with 24 tuna, 10 we caught trolling the rest on live bait. 2 of them were over 30 pounds and most around 20.

Thanks Matt.







 
Live bait hooks for those who've never seen them

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1) Buy rum
2) Get up early
3) Make tea
4) Mix rum with tea
5) Drink and go back to bed.

It looks to be particularly nasty this weekend - esp on Sunday.

LOL!! Saturday will be doable but bouncy...

Mother nature please be good to us!!!

Getbent call me now.

Jeff
 
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